Okay I have 3 versions of this. The Genesis, Dreamcast and on the 360 Sonics Ultimate Genesis Collection. I haven't played my Genesis version in years. But I remember beating it single player when I was in my 20's. The machine gun toting boss at the end and all. I've tried the 360 version and cannot get past level 3. It's so hard. I put in my Dreamcast version first time and I have easily gotten to level 5. What gives? And yes I put it on easy in all 3 variations. I'm guessing the 360 port was not a superb translation of the classic game?! Ideas?

you guys got me curious now. I own Streets of rage 2 on genesis and on Sonic's ultimate genesis collection on ps3. I know when I played it on ps3, I was struggling to get fast the 3rd or 4th stages. I used to play the game a ton as a kid; maybe it has something to do with being older now, or maybe the game is more difficult somehow. good point.

I agree with SOR3 not being as good. I only remember beating it once as a kid. I played it on ps3 and died on the mona lisa boss, the two girls in the room with the big fishtank who jump around and put electric things on the floor.

Tonight I just played Steets of Rage 3. I played it before but it's been a long time. This game sucks

First off the graphics are kind of fuzzy looking compared to 2. But that is the least of the games worries. Two main things. It is too fast. I agree with above guy in that I can't make it past the two ladies laying electrical surges on the ground. There is barely any skill involved. It's all luck from where you land to where you punch or kick or jump again. And going along with point 1 it's too hard....I guess that goes along with too fast. I made it to the end of stage 3 and had 2 continues left and full health. I lost over ten lives on ONE boss stage. Unreal. I think the quality control department and the play testers were out to lunch for a month when this was published. Grade-D

Streets of Rage 2 is one of the best games I ever played and I keep coming back to it. I think it surpasses the original in every way with amazing graphics and amazing music. However, I don't think the game is hard at all. Actually, it's pretty easy (unless you play on the secret 'Mania' mode). I played the original Sega Genesis edition, the Xbox 360 edition (on Sonic's Ultimate Collection) and the 3DS edition. I agree that SOR3 was a disappointment in comparison to SOR2. The graphics look grainy in comparison to SOR2 and the music is just horrible. Also, some bosses in SOR3 are a chore to fight against (Mona & Lisa, Yamato, Robot Y). But I appreciate the way Sega tried to integrate parts of SOR1 and SOR2 in SOR3. But SOR2 remains the best.

There was also a construction level early on in SOR3. First, a part that scrolls left. A street punk drives a bulldozer at you, and you have to break walls to keep moving. It's almost impossible to do this without getting hurt, from what I remember. The next part has pits that take up a large part of the screen.

CharlieR wrote:There was also a construction level early on in SOR3. First, a part that scrolls left. A street punk drives a bulldozer at you, and you have to break walls to keep moving. It's almost impossible to do this without getting hurt, from what I remember. The next part has pits that take up a large part of the screen.

You have to turn around and punch the bulldozer and that drives it back so you can go back to smashing the wall.

Mona & Lisa are annoying but there is a strategy with them. You have to fly kick them just as they are landing if I remember correctly.

Robot Y is a mega pain in the butt.

There is however a legit way of fairly easily beating SOR3:First unlock the first stage boss Shiva as a playable character.

From GameFAQs "After beating Shiva in the first stage when you get the last hit, press B+Start and hold it. When the continue screen comes up you'll be able to play as Shiva."

Once your playing with Shiva use the single fist attack (button Z I believe ?) which stuns the enemy keep your timing right and you keep the stunned and taking damage until they die all in one prolonged attack this includes all the bosses even Robot Y (if you can catch him).

I paid £75 for this game on launch and sunk many hours into it. I'm not saying it's a good game because the difficulty balance is way off. But there are multiple endings and branching paths later in the game. It really is worth keeping with the new double tap attacks and double tap weapon attacks add more strategy and depth and there is some really clever level design in the game (if you can get far enough to see it) levels were the wind affects your jumping and enemies trajectory once thrown, an underground subway with trains running over you and the bad guys if you don't get out the way, The always fun open lift level.

Seriously there is a good game in there ! They just messed up the difficulty. If you've got an Everdrive play Bare Knuckle 3 it is everything this game should have been.

I've also heard on the standalone Xbox Live/PSN versions if you set the country to Japan in the Options the game will change to Bare Knuckle 3 ! I heard this on a podcast so cannot verify so check that out.

Streets of Rage 2 was the pinnacle of the series, but man did it have some annoying boss fights. Jet, Zamza, the boxer, the wrestler. Great game though, one of my favorites.

I did beat Streets of rage 3 a few days ago, and I did use the trick to play as Shiva, that was mentioned in this thread. Good game, love the summery music in the stage where you fight Shiva. The music in the 2nd game was legendary, but there's some good tracks here as well. Shorter game than I remembered.